


“Hi, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro....is Isabella here?”

by authenticcadence18



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Episode: s04e47 Act Your Age, F/M, Fluff, Phinabella - Freeform, Phinbella - Freeform, Posted in honor of Phinabella day!!, canon-divergent, they’re in love your honor💕
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authenticcadence18/pseuds/authenticcadence18
Summary: Ever wondered what would’ve happened if Phineas had gotten to Nosh Olé before Isabella left in “Act Your Age”?Well, wonder no more!!!(Happy six years of canon Phinabella!!!)
Relationships: Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Comments: 12
Kudos: 34





	“Hi, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro....is Isabella here?”

**Author's Note:**

> HIIIII GUYS!!!!!!!!!! It’s been awhile, huh?? I’m SO EXCITED to finally be posting writing again, aaaaaah!!!!
> 
> Six years ago today, “Act Your Age” aired and Phineas and Isabella officially became a couple (in the US, anyway😅). I hope you enjoy this little fic I wrote to celebrate!!!!

* * *

Phineas hesitated at the door to Nosh Olé for a second, perhaps to catch his breath, or perhaps in an attempt to calm the nervous butterflies tumbling around in his stomach. 

Could he really do this? Talk to Isabella about how she apparently had feelings for him? Admit that he’d been crushing on her since the ninth grade??

…..he HAD to do this. Before it was too late. 

Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro greeted Phineas with a smile and a wave as he entered the restaurant. “Hello, Phineas! How are you?”

“Hi, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro…” Phineas glanced around and, when he didn’t catch sight of Isabella, added, “...is Isabella here?”

“You got here just in time!” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro replied. “Her shift just ended, and she’s getting ready to head out. You know, she’s actually leaving for college today!”

“So I heard!” Phineas said. “I just, uh….wanted to say goodbye.” 

_Amongst other things._

“Well, she should be out any minute,” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro assured him. “She’ll be excited to see you!” 

And then….there she was. 

Isabella emerged into the main restaurant from a door marked “Employees Only” with a purse and a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She glanced up at the head of the restaurant...and then her eyes met Phineas’s and his heart practically leapt out of his chest. 

For a moment, he couldn’t quite remember what he’d come over to do because he’d missed Isabella so much and it was hard to think of anything but how glad he was to be in her company again.

And she also looked EXTRAORDINARILY cute today. How could one person be that cute?? If he’d been carrying a cute tracker it would have short-circuited by now……

“...Phineas?”

The sound of his name on her lips snapped him back to reality. 

Right. Isabella liked him. Supposedly. And he liked her. Definitely. 

He wanted talk to her about it before she left for school. 

“uH! Uhm, h-hi, Isabella!” 

... _smooth_. 

“Phineas! Uh, wow!” Isabella came to a stop at his side, hands fiddling with one of the zippers on her duffle bag. “Whatcha doin? You know, here?” 

Phineas’s hands were twitching and his stomach was in knots—which was a little weird, considering he knew Isabella returned his feelings. He shouldn’t have been nervous. 

“Uhh….” 

Except...what if she DIDN’T return his feelings? What if he’d taken too long to realize he reciprocated them and she’d moved on?? Or what if Baljeet had been joking?? Or mistaken???? Was this all one elaborate prank????

...there was only one way to find out. 

“I know you’re about to leave for Tri-State State but...there’s something I need to talk to you about,” he finally said. “...do you have a few minutes?”

“Uh, sure! I can talk for a bit. Let me just put my bag in my car...is it okay if we talk outside?” 

“Yes!” Phineas replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. 

(He wasn’t eager to confess his feelings in front of everyone in the restaurant.)

Isabella gave her mom a quick hug. “I’ll be right back to say goodbye!” 

“Take your time!” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro replied 

Then, Isabella opened the door and stepped outside, grasping her purse and digging around for her keys once she did so. 

Phineas followed at a respectful distance, furling and unfurling his fists in an attempt to ease his nerves and quell the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. 

Isabella placed her duffle bag in the passenger seat of her car and shut the door before looking back up at Phineas. 

“...so...what did you want to talk about?” 

“Uh…..”

_...I can do this….._

“First of all, it’s nice to see you!!” Phineas began. “Like, REALLY nice to see you. I’m so glad I caught you before you left for school.”

Isabella smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s really nice to see you too!!” 

Phineas’s heart skipped a beat at that. “ _She’s glad to see me!_ ” 

“But, how did you find out I was leaving for school today?” Isabella continued. “And where I’d be? Not that I’m complaining, but I don’t remember talking to you about it.” 

“Oh! I saw Nana Shapiro a bit ago and she told me,” Phineas elaborated. “It was pretty serendipitous, actually! Because I’d been thinking about you when I ran into her, and...um...well…”

He hesitated, face growing warmer by the second. 

“.......while we’re on the topic of people telling me things about you...uh……”

_.....just say it._

“.....earlier I was hanging out with the guys, and Baljeet said something funny…..he, um...he said you had a crush on me when we were kids.” 

Isabella’s stomach plummeted. 

This wasn’t happening. 

This could _not_ be happening. 

….was this _actually_ happening right now??

After all the years she’d spent scheming to reveal her feelings with no success, all the time she’d spent trying to move on, all the feelings she’d sworn up and down were gone even though she knew they weren’t….Phineas had found out she had crush on him from BALJEET??? 

She was SO going to have a strongly worded conversation with him about respecting her privacy later.

....perhaps this was a blessing in disguise, though. 

Now was as good a time as any to finally talk through things with Phineas. Maybe she’d at least gain some closure so she could start moving on for good. 

Isabella cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. “Oh! Well...it’s kind of embarrassing you found out about that from Baljeet, but...yeah….” 

She blushed a little, in spite of herself. “I had a big crush on you back then.” 

(She tried to emphasize the “back then” part because she didn’t necessarily want Phineas to know she still totally had a big crush on him, no matter how hard she tried to deny that fact to herself.)

Phineas’s eyes brightened. “You did? Wow! ...a part of me thought he was just joking around, that it was too good to be true, but...wow….you really _did_ have a crush on me….” 

The brightness faded a bit as he mumbled, “...I had no idea.”

“Really?? I thought I was being _so_ obvious!!” Isabella exclaimed. “I’ve always wondered if you knew I liked you or at least SUSPECTED I liked you and just didn’t want to say anything but….you really never knew?”

“No, I genuinely had no idea,” Phineas assured her. “If I HAD known…..well…”

He let out a sigh.

“.....I wish I’d known…..” 

Something about that last sentence made Isabella’s heart flutter. 

“....wait….waaaait wait a minute.” 

A certain part of Phineas’s previous statement came flashing back to the front of her mind. 

“You said the thought of me having a crush on you sounded too good to be true. Why did you say that? Why did it sound too good to be true?” 

  
  


Phineas face flushed bright red. “Uhm! Because! Uh! I…...”

He couldn’t do this. 

No, he COULD do this! He could tell her! 

...he HAD to tell her. Otherwise he’d have come all this way for nothing. 

Well, no. Not nothing. He’d already gotten to see Isabella again. That in of itself was something. More than something. It was amazing. 

_She_ was amazing. 

And he could do this. 

“.....I’ve...sort of...had a big crush on _you_ ever since we started high school.” 

Isabella’s jaw practically clattered to the sidewalk. 

“w….what? You’ve had a crush on me since we started high school?? You...have a crush on me?? Like, present-tense, _have_ a crush on me???”

Phineas nodded with a sheepish smile. 

“Yeah!! I’ve had a crush on you for years….I figured it out in high school but I think I liked you without knowing it long before then, even when we were kids! You’ve always been really special to me, and I love spending time with you, and….yeah. When I realized I liked you, I decided to keep it to myself….I didn’t want to make things weird between us, you know?”

He winced and rubbed the back of his neck, eyes cast downward.

Hopefully he wasn’t making things weird between them now. 

“I know you’ve probably moved on by now and that you’re about to leave for school which makes this the worst possible time for me to be confessing to you, but...I just _had_ to tell you. I had to see if Baljeet was telling the truth. And, even if he hadn’t been telling the truth, I wanted you to know how important you are to me…..”

He dared to inch a little closer, to grasp Isabella’s hands in his and meet her gaze again.

“I really, REALLY like you, Isabella. I know you’ve got to leave soon so I don’t have time to go over all the reasons why, but…..just know there’s a lot of them. You’re just, _amazing_. No matter how you feel about me now, I hope we can stay in touch and keep being friends.” 

It took Isabella a few moments to articulate a response. 

(She knew what she WANTED to say. But being confessed to by the love of one’s life does funny things to the brain.) 

“.....Phineas….. _you’re_ amazing…” she finally managed to whisper. 

“And….I still like you. Like, _like you_ -like you. _Really_ like you-like you. More than anything.” 

Phineas’s eyebrows shot up, face flushing pink. “....you _do_?” 

“Yeah!” Isabella exclaimed. “I guess, I sort of gave up on you ever returning my feelings when we got to high school and kept myself busy with work and extracurriculars and stuff to try and get over you...but it never worked. I still like you as much as I did when we were kids. I never STOPPED liking you. Because you’re just that amazing. And….and you like me too!!”

Relief and joy spun about in Phineas’s chest as he smiled down at the girl who’d been his best friend for so long and claimed his heart along the way. He felt lighter, somehow. 

He hadn’t realized just how much of a burden keeping his feelings a secret from her had been. 

And now….they weren’t a secret anymore. And he didn’t have to hide from them either. 

Isabella liked him too. 

For a moment or two, they just stood beside Isabella’s car with hands entwined and massive grins on their faces, briefly able to bask in the wonderous realization of their requited feelings for one another. 

...but the moment couldn’t last, because as amazing as said realization was, it couldn’t change the fact that Isabella was leaving for school or make-up for the time they’d lost by not admitting their feelings sooner. 

“.....I’m sorry I never noticed how you felt….” Phineas whispered. 

“I’m sorry too….” Isabella replied quietly. “....but! Now we know we like each other! I’m SURE we can find a way to make us work!!” 

She’d spent over a decade longing for Phineas to return her feelings. Now that she knew he _did_ return them, she couldn’t just let him go!!!

“Where are you going to school?” she asked. “If it’s not too far from Tri-State State, we can visit each other whenever we can! And if it’s far away, we can just video chat! Or build a teleporter and use it to see one another! I mean, we traveled around the entire world in a day!!! I’m _sure_ we can figure something out. And I don’t care what it takes, I just want us to be together...but only if you ALSO want that, of course……”

She was so busy brainstorming ideas as to how she and Phineas could make a relationship work, she didn’t notice the way his eyes widened as he came to his own realization. 

“Hey, I _do_ want us to be together….” he whispered, gently tugging on her hands to pull her a little closer to him. “And, I hadn’t chosen a school yet, actually....but I think I just did.” 

He let go of Isabella’s hands and pulled two envelopes from his pocket. After examining them closely, he passed one to her with a grin on his face. 

Isabella took the envelope and read the return address.

Her breath caught. Warmth, dizzying and lovely and electrifying, blossomed in her chest. 

“...you want to go to Tri-State State?” she exhaled. “Because of _me_? ...are you sure?” 

Phineas took the letter back and tucked it away. “Well, I’d already narrowed it down to there and Danville University,” he explained. “I just didn’t have a good reason to commit to one school over the other…until now. So, yes. I’m definitely sure.” 

Isabella couldn’t contain the beaming smile that spread across her face.

And she couldn’t contain the urge to throw her arms around Phineas’s neck and hug him tightly, either. 

(It had been FAR too long since they shared a proper hug. And they were dating now, so Isabella figured said hug was in order.)

Phineas returned the embrace with a joyful chuckle, holding her close and marveling at the fact that this was likely to become a regular occurrence in the near future. 

“....shall we go tell my mom the good news, then?” Isabella asked brightly when she pulled away. 

“Yes,” Phineas replied, taking her hand in his and grinning broadly. “Yes we should!”

* * *

“Well, I think that was the last of it!!!” Isabella patted the luggage atop her car one final time to ensure its security before stepping back to stand at Phineas’s side. “Thanks for riding home with me and helping me pack up the last of my stuff!” 

“No problem!!” Phineas replied. “It was the least I could do for my _girlfriend_ , after all.” 

He grabbed her hand and gave her a wink, prompting Isabella to giggle and utter a dreamy, “Oh, Phineas!!” 

“Plus, it gave me an excuse to spend a little more time with you before you leave!!” Phineas continued. 

“Speaking of which….you probably need to get going, huh?”

In the approximate hour that had passed since Isabella and Phineas officially began dating, the sky above Danville had gone from a clear blue to a hazy blur of pinks, purples, and oranges. 

“Yeah….I suppose I do...” Isabella replied. “I’d like to be well on my way there by the time it gets dark.” 

“Text me when you get there!!” Phineas said. “Or call me!”

“I will!” Isabella assured him. “And I’ll see you soon.” 

“Yup! In two weeks…” Phineas replied. 

They smiled before leaning in to share one last hug. 

Isabella intended to savor this moment as long as she could. The more time she spent nestled in Phineas’s arms, the less she wanted to leave them.

She just felt so warm, and safe, and cherished...and she loved him so much, it was almost overwhelming…

“....I love you, Phineas.”

Phineas stiffened, and as did Isabella once she realized she’d put words to the feelings swirling around in her heart. 

She hadn’t meant to say them. Not yet. But they’d just…slipped out. 

And they were out in the open now.

“Uh!!” Isabella choked, swiftly pulling away from the hug and wringing her hands together. “I—I’m sorry, did I just make things weird? I didn’t mean to make things weird! I know we just started dating and I probably shouldn’t have said that yet, so….we can just forget about it and revisit this conversation in a month or….uh….”

Her voice trailed off as Phineas leaned in, cupped her face in his hands, and gave her a tender smile. “I love you too, Isabella…” he whispered. 

And then, before Isabella had time to really wrap her head around that statement, he was drawing her close and kissing her for the first time, and she was wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. 

“..... _he loves me_ ……” 

* * *

Phineas and Isabella parted after a handful of precious seconds, loving smiles dancing on both their lips. 

“Welllll….. _that_ was worth the wait…” Isabella sang. 

“Which part?” Phineas asked. “The kissing or the confessing?” 

Isabella giggled and gave him a smirk. “Both.”

She was the one to initiate their second kiss (though Phineas was more than happy to kiss her back). 

And the kissing was nice, of course. 

But finally knowing they loved each other?

  
_That_ was even better. 

  
  


* * *

**Author's Note:**

> THANKS FOR READING AAAHH!! I hope you enjoyed it!!! This was so fun to write!!! When I first watched “Act Your Age” six years ago, I never could have guessed I’d one day get to share my love for these characters with so many amazing people🥺💕. It’s truly a blessing!
> 
> Also, to anyone following “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” thank you SO MUCH for your patience and positive reception! Chapter 10 is in progress, and I’m very excited about it!!
> 
> (SIDENOTE: in case y’all were wondering, Isa said goodbye to the rest of the gang before the last scene. While she and Phineas were packing up her car, they heard a strange noise coming from his backyard and went over to investigate....only to find all their friends standing around awkwardly. Baljeet attempted to explain what they’d been up to, and Isabella and Phineas just laughed and told everyone they’d just started dating. I initially wanted to include this scene in the main story but ended up cutting it, but I still wanted y’all to know, LOL!!)
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated😊💕
> 
> (Oh! Also! I’m on Instagram now! I’m @authenticcadence18 there, same as here!)


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